'Controlling' thug broke into woman’s home while she was away and refused to leave

A thug who broke into a woman's home while she was away and refused to leave has been spared jail. Damon Hurst, 38, became threatening and controlling towards the woman, who cannot be named, "punching walls" near her and "spending all of her money, leaving her with nothing".

This escalated to the point where he smashed his way into her house through a back door, waiting for her to come home after taking refuge in a hotel for a few days. When asked to leave he picked a child out of the pram to 'scare' her, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.

The ordeal started in December 2020 when the woman was moved into a safe house with her children so the defendant "could not contact her or find her," Simon Blakebrough, prosecuting, told the hearing. However, in August last year, Hurst and the woman met in the Trafford Centre, with the woman then getting two buses home.

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Hurst followed her home and went into her house, before refusing to leave. He told her he was going to stay in the house and 'take it over', refusing to leave. This is despite her saying "it was against her wishes," Mr Blakebrough said.

"She was scared of him and felt as if she couldn't disagree with him as she feared the consequences." Hurst then learned she had booked to go to Blackpool with her children and "forced himself" to come along with them.

On this holiday he was "very controlling" and "never left her side," the court heard. "She felt she couldn't go anywhere, he would sleep in her bed and she was too scared to leave," Mr Blakebrough said.

He added: "He had a number of violent outbursts but it was not always against her." On October 4 last year he